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All Rise...

Judge Daniel Kelly was exiled for being a Dynamite Warrior.

Editor's Note

Our reviews of Dynamite Warrior
(published July 30th, 2007) and Exiled
(published December 10th, 2007) are also available.

The Charge

Brotherhood. Honor. Loyalty. Duty. Which one is strongest?

The Case

An interesting little double pack combining a tiresome martial arts flick
with a fairly tight mob actioner. Johnnie To's Exiled is definitely the
sharper of the two flicks, easily outpacing Dynamite Warrior in terms of
competent execution and solid entertainment value. Granted, neither film is
worth anything more than a rental, but audiences should be adequately amused
with To's picture.

Exiled opens in 1998, some eight years before the picture was filmed.
The story follows two pairs of assassins pitted against each other; one group
seeking to take out a target, with the other attempting to save him. The victim
in question is Wo (Nick Cheung, Sin Yan), and when both pairs eventually
cross the man, a great shootout ensues as a consequence. The best assets of the
film are the well constructed moments of violent action; the picture devolving
into a slightly less compelling narrative, as the two factions of gangsters join
forces to pull off a massive heist.

The acting in Exiled is assured, certainly much more respectable than
it is in the shoddy Dynamite Warrior. Audiences won't have much trouble
engaging with the lead actors, and nearly everyone has good screen presence
during the project's more intense instances. The cast is decidedly male heavy,
so it's odd that one of the most cracking performances is given by a woman.
Josie Ho does sterling work as Wo's wife, adding a dose of reality and unnerving
edge to the movie. To shoots the picture with vigour and considerable style.
Despite some of its more bumbling narrative faults, Exiled does look
magnificent.

The screenplay starts well but slowly gets worse. Thanks to the
professionally orchestrated action and relatively simple story, this isn't a
fatal flaw, but it is notable and certainly renders the production good rather
than great. The film develops a bizarre but ambitious Western dynamic before it
concludes, its score capturing the sort of melodies one might expect from a
Sergio Leone effort. Unfortunately this switch in tone coincides with the slump
in writing and storytelling, but it is a brave touch none the less. A well
adjusted and reasonably enjoyable offering of foreign cinema, Exiled is a
clear cut below the best works of John Woo, but remains a fairly decent action
picture.

Dynamite Warrior, on the other hand, is outright weak. The second
movie in this double pack is a 99 minute slog, punctuated by the odd efficient
martial arts sequence. The film sounds much better on paper than it is; a
mysterious warrior coming back to defeat an evil warlord who's trying to sell
Tractors. Yes, I did just say Tractors. There's a revenge subplot hacked into
the mix, but it really doesn't improve anything. The action is crazy enough to
warrant a look, but everything else about the movie totally stinks.

Weird but not overly interesting, the story is despicably uninvolving and
turgid to follow. The production has wizards, buffalos, and menstrual blood, but
something about it still feels fantastically dry. Dynamite Warrior should
be a lot of fun but it simply isn't. Maybe it's the frustrating degree of
exposition, boasting far too many flashbacks and unconvincing moments of
vengeful simmering, leaving audiences cold and thirsting for something that
packs a little genuine punch.

The acting is atrocious (not that I was expecting otherwise) and director
Chalerm Wongpim fails to coax any emotion out of his performers. The script is
mishandled too; unlike Exiled, nothing is grounded in reality. Granted
that's not the point, but hey, if you're making a goofy action spectacular it
also pays to remember to keep things fun. Dynamite Warrior doesn't.
Exiled receives a hard R rating, while Dynamite Warrior is
unrated; it's modestly gory in parts and the action is incredibly violent.
Certainly I wouldn't try anything featured here at home.

Both of these imports look well on DVD, albeit neither film has a bonus
feature to its name. Exiled is worth watching once, but unless you're a
martial arts fanatic, I'd give Dynamite Warrior a pass. Maybe give this
set a rental or pick it up when it's cheap, but at full price neither of these
flicks deserve a place in your permanent collection.